


Rings Within Rings Within Rings

by LogicalParafox



Series: Raven's Flight [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:07:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27706685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LogicalParafox/pseuds/LogicalParafox
Summary: A black feather drifts into Tai's solitude. Parallels and follows Leaving Tomorrow.
Relationships: Raven Branwen/Summer Rose/Taiyang Xiao Long
Series: Raven's Flight [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2024197
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	Rings Within Rings Within Rings

Tai’s sunflowers thrived.

He made an effort to keep the house nice, even with everyone away. It was the literal least he could do now that he was no longer capable of being on the front lines.

Still, he kept his skills sharp, training and practicing and drilling. Tai patrolled Patch, keeping the Grimm away from his home, from his neighbors. His daughters and family would always have a home to return to, with plants growing outside and clean sheets to crawl in between.

After Summer’s death… When Summer never came home, Tai had broken. It hadn’t been fair to the girls, let alone Qrow, and he had no intentions of ever doing that again.

So… He tended flowers. He stocked and rotated a massive supply of shelf-stable food. He maintained the house. He checked and maintained enough generators and fuel to keep the house well-lit and warm for years. He found projects to keep him busy. He built a basement for his supplies so even if the house were razed to the ground by some destructive Grimm his family would still have shelter. He prepared for every possible catastrophe and several impossible ones because if the world could take Summer from them, all bets were off about any justice or balance existing in the world. He did his best to stay centered, stay present.

Gardening was as close as he came to meditation. With his fingers buried in the dirt, he felt real. His work today would matter tomorrow and these little lives needed him to stay present. Tai’s breathing evened out, taking deep breaths, his senses fanning out and taking in his surroundings, focused on the reality around him.

If he hadn’t been so open to his environment he might have missed the once-familiar sound of Raven’s portal.

Tai froze, listening, trying to discern if that had been a real sound or something out of his memory.

He turned, scanning the blue sky, fingers still crusted with dirt.

A single black feather drifted down as a shape frantically flapped, weaving unsteadily in the air.

Raven.

* * *

Following her was a bad idea. Raven had kept as far from him as she could. He knew she checked in with Qrow from time to time, and he would bet lien that she checked in on Yang fairly regularly.

He’d given Yang what he knew of Raven’s current whereabouts when she asked him directly, and details of Raven’s semblance when his eldest was determined to find her little sister.

If Raven were here and Yang wasn’t…

His feet trod the familiar path as he kept an eye on the distant shape in the trees. She was in rough shape if he could keep pace with her. Not for nothing came the saying ‘as the crow flies.’

Too familiar.

He broke through the trees to see Raven standing beside the cenotaph they had raised for Summer when it became horribly clear that they would never recover her body and he needed something solid… Someplace he could visit. Even that little bit of closure.

“Raven,” Tai said.

As if her name cut the last thread holding her upright, Raven collapsed.

* * *

Something bad had happened.

Tai knew the ins and outs of battlefield medicine as well as any Huntsman who survived this long. Raven was a mass of bruises when he eased her out of her boots, gently undressing her as she stared dull-eyed at nothing, unresponsive. He cleaned her up as best he could with a wet washcloth to be sure he hadn’t missed any serious injuries under the dirt, then put her in one of his t-shirts, his worry spiking when she made no objection to the bright orange fabric. He tucked her into his bed, which was biggest and nearest to the tub she would want when she woke up and chewed on his lip to keep from shaking her awake and demanding answers, demanding to know if their daughter was all right. Raven’s semblance was a terrible burden, perhaps to balance its great power.

* * *

Tai dragged in the old rocking chair after a few hours of watching, the motion soothing. He had opened most of the windows, letting in a breeze and fresh air. Raven had always hated to be cooped up. The breeze blew in chilly and he put another blanket atop her before settling back into the chair. If the communications had still been up, he could have contacted Yang and Ruby and Qrow, gotten the answers he so desperately craved. Then again if the communications towers had still been functioning, Yang could have gone to Ruby directly regardless.

Tai focused on the here and now, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth, listening to the sounds of Patch as evening wrapped around his home, no longer so empty.

* * *

Tai startled awake, the sun just setting behind the trees. He glanced at the bed and froze, no familiar shape curled up under the blankets. “Raven?”

What if she had collapsed again? What if she had left without a word? Heart pounding, he bolted for the door.

“Here.”

He skidded to a halt, spotting her in the entrance to Qrow’s room, wearing some of Qrow’s clothes. “Oh... How are you feeling? Are you hungry?” He didn’t mention that he could have counted her ribs when he’d helped her the night before. She had washed at some point, cleaned up, her hair dry. How long had he been asleep?

Raven agreed without enthusiasm and he escorted her downstairs, seeing her into a chair before moving the laundry to the dryer and returning to work on preparing some food.

Raven had the look that Qrow often did when he came back from missions, as if he had miles to go before all of him would be home.

Tai’s worry for his daughters spiked, but he focused on the now. Chop vegetables. Don’t cut off a finger due to inattention. Fry noodles without burning them. Raven would tell him in her own time. Or not. The only thing he knew for certain was that pushing her for answers was the surest way to get none.

He slid the plate in front of her, then paused when she didn’t move or respond. “…Raven?”

She spooked like a skittish horse, flames igniting around her eyes… and then vanishing so quickly he wondered if it had been in his imagination.

Tai backed off, gesturing to the food. She glared at him and he served himself, keeping his movements calm and casual. Nothing he could do for his girls if he frightened Raven off. If they were in danger, she was his fastest way to them… and seeing her startle like that for him hurt.

Raven ate like a wolf, managing most of a second helping before her body gave up. Her eyelids sagged and she swayed in her chair.

“You need to sleep,” he pointed out, trailing after her as she stumbled toward the stairs, listing at a bad angle. Raven stopped at the foot of the stairs, staring at it as though she stood at the foot of a towering mountain range. It hurt to see her so exhausted. Steeling himself for imminent retribution, he scooped her into his arms, grateful when she managed to pull her punch at the last moment.

Despite her objections she was asleep before he reached the top of the stairs and didn’t stir as he tucked her in.

* * *

Her stubborn determination to leave swirled with her exhaustion and apparent defeat, leaving her path muddied and her motivations in ruins.

Attempts to gently probe were greeted with hostile silence or a thousand yard stare. He opted to join her in quiet as she put herself back together.

The rocking chair was a deeply inadequate bed for several nights running, but any attempts to leave her in the room alone resulted in screaming nightmares and he wasn’t about to climb into bed with his once upon a time wife when she was so shattered she couldn’t hold a conversation. Her nightmares gave him the last puzzle piece in her flaring eyes: at some point she had gained the power of one of the maidens. A horrible thought and a terrible burden he wouldn’t wish on anyone.

He rocked gently, trying to decide what should happen next. If things kept on as they were… Raven might never recover. He drifted off to uneasy sleep with that cheerful thought.

* * *

His dreams were interrupted by a sudden panic as the rocking chair toppled over… no, just tipped back and rocked forward. When he got his bearings, Raven was smirking at him.

She invited him.

Even knowing terrible things were happening somewhere, possibly to people he loved, he felt brief elation. He changed into sleep clothes quickly and carefully climbed into bed, leaving space between them and dropping off to sleep almost at once.

* * *

Tai relearned her cues, noting the ways she tensed while they spoke. He kept well away from inquiries about what had happened, giving her space, giving her time. Worry gnawed at him but surely even Raven wouldn’t keep it from him if his daughters had come to significant harm. Surely, she would know. Would tell him that much.

Apart from that undercurrent, it was all too easy to drop into a routine with her, cooking and tidying and keeping her company.

The nearest he came to crossing that line was when he grew tired of her constant wincing and offered to work on her back muscles. She agreed with some hesitation and he kept things professional, not asking about the terrible scars she had acquired during their years apart. During the time that she had become one of the maidens.

Tai focused on getting her well, even if the sooner she regained her strength most likely the sooner he would return to silent waiting with no one for company but Zwei.

Most mornings he woke to find her tucked in against his side, though he was proud of his own restraint, still lying meekly on his back and not clutching her to him or trapping her in his arms.

He could be patient. Holding her close would make her leaving all the worse this time and if she truly only wanted a brief safe harbor…. well… it was the least he could do.

Raven never asked so he didn’t need to tell her that of course he still loved her.

Tai made her favorite foods and brought down the trunks from the attic with the possessions he had left behind. She showed genuine surprise when she opened them up.

“I thought you would have thrown all of this away years ago.”

Tai had so many things he wanted to say. So many things that would startle her into flight. He could tell her that he had believed she would come home, someday. That he and Summer had never given up on her. He could tell her about the other box with all of the cards Yang had made for her for mother’s day and birthdays once Yang had worked out that if Qrow was her mother’s twin then the two of them must share a birthday.

Tai wanted to tell her that he wanted her to stay, as he had always wanted her to stay.

“Nope,” he said instead and hauled off the clothes for laundering.

When he glanced back, Raven was investigating the rest of the box’s contents.

* * *

The silence crackled like the air before a thunderstorm. Even dressed in clothes that fit her style again, Raven looked wholly uncomfortable and Tai often caught her staring at him, her shoulders lifted defensively. He waited for her to confront him, but the time ticked by, the tension only increasing.

“…What?” he finally demanded when he looked up from his sandwich to see her not eating and glaring at him.

Raven startled and scooped up her own sandwich, taking a large bite and looking away from him.

“No, you need to tell me what is bothering you because clearly I can’t figure it out on my own.”

Raven still refused to look at him.

“Fine. You’re going to tell me sooner or later, you know how stubborn I am, you might as well just get it over with.”

Not a word passed her lips.

Fine.

* * *

Tai moved back to sleeping in the rocking chair, though it pained him that she tossed and turned all night then eventually curled into a ball under the blankets.

He wore his brightest colored shirts and stuffed his cargo pockets with useless things to make them bulge. Each grimace counted as a success.

In his final act of subterfuge, he switched from making her favorite meals to Summer’s favorites, digging out Summer’s cookbook and filling the house with the smell of baking. His cookies weren’t quite perfect but they were close enough that Raven’s eyes reddened when she bit into one. Good.

* * *

Raven lasted a week before she finally snapped. “ ** _FINE_**.”

Tai gave her a bright smile. “Yes?”

“You kept everything I left.”

“Yes.”

“…Then where’s my ring?”

Tai’s muscles locked down like he had come around a corner to find a sleeping pack of Ursa and had no weapons on him, danger and death suddenly appearing, snarling down at him. “You said you didn’t want to see it ever again,” he said numbly.

Raven looked away.

“You said…” Tai’s voice shook, his hands shook, everything trembled as his world careened out of orbit, the false peace and serenity of the last few weeks shattered to dust. “You said you were leaving me and Summer and never wanted to see it again. You said Yang was my responsibility now.”

Raven swallowed, looking down at the table, her hands clutching each other, her ring finger bare. “I did.”

“What did you think I would do with it?”

“…I thought you would have a bonfire with it and all of my things… but they were still here…so...”

Tai exhaled slowly, resting his elbows on the table and burying his face in his hands. He’d assumed she’d been missing her books or other keepsakes that Yang had laid claim to as mementoes. “I would never have done that,” he whispered. “Could never have.”

“And yet…”

Tai shook his head. “She had it.”

“Yang?”

“No.”

Raven stared at him, then flinched when the meaning hit her. “Then…”

“Lost with her…” Tai rubbed his own bare finger. “Mine is buried under her cenotaph… almost a year after we lost her… I needed… I needed to bury _something_ and…” His voice ran out.

Raven looked gutted when he glanced at her.

Tai swallowed, rubbing his jaw, but she needed to know... he needed to tell her… and Raven had asked. “She never gave up hope, was so sure that you’d show up sooner or later and then she would have it near her heart for you. We never stopped waiting for you to come back to us.” His voice broke and he gulped back a sob, remembering how he and Summer had curled together and listened hard for the sound of her portal, sure that she would come home sooner or later. How could she stay away? Her home was with them.

Raven shuddered and lurched up from the table, bolting for the door and yanking it open.

Tai stared after her, then scrambled to his feet, chasing her, dashing away tears to keep his vision free. He wouldn’t let her go this time. She didn’t have her weapons, couldn’t open a portal, he just had to keep her in sight.

Raven shifted, wings flaring as she launched herself skyward.

“I love you!” he howled, hands clenching into fists. All the unsaid words and lost days, lost years ripping their way through him, shredding him like Beowolf claws. “We love you…”

No feather drifted down, no sound of flapping wings.

Tai sighed heavily, hugging himself as he turned back toward the house. He told himself this wasn’t a surprise. This was always how this would end.

Numbly, he began to gather up the dishes, his feet treading familiar paths, his hands doing their tasks while his brain filled with howling emptiness. Of course she would run from him. What did he have to offer her? He couldn't even give her back her wedding ring. Of course she would never have stayed.

Abruptly exhausted, he trudged back upstairs, ignoring the late afternoon sunlight as he collapsed onto their bed. Onto his bed.

He buried his face in the pillow and sobbed.

* * *

Something cold hit his face, startling him awake.

Tai sat up groggily, feeling the cold thing slide down his cheek as he fumbled in the blankets. He squinted in the dark at the piece of metal, then flinched when the lights turned on, staring at the dark-haired woman in confusion. “What?”

“Put it on,” Raven ordered.

“What?”

She held up her left hand, a thin metal band on her ring finger, gleaming and new. “Now you.”

Tai gaped at her, then fumbled in the blankets frantically, trying to find what she’d dropped on him.

Raven sighed dramatically and shifted, the black feathered bird pecking his hands until he moved them out of the way and scrounging in the blankets. She picked up the shiny metal band and flapped her wings in triumph… then pecked him again when he tried to take it.

“Ow, what??”

Raven folded her wings in and dropped the ring before shifting back, looking a little sheepish as he cautiously picked it up. “It’s shiny.”

“For me?”

Raven nodded and he slid it onto his finger, shocked that it fit. “But…”

Raven closed the distance between him and kissed him hard to stop him babbling.

Tai came up for air eventually, dazed. “But…”

Raven put a hand over his mouth and held up something.

He squinted at the ring, then looked at her, confused.

“For Summer.”

Tai swallowed hard against a sudden lump in his throat as he nodded, gently pulling her hand away from his mouth. “For Summer.”

Raven nodded, then flicked off the light, curling up with him in a way so familiar though it had been more than a decade since he’d held her this close.

She turned her head toward him and he could dimly see the glint of her eye.

“I love you too.”

Tai smiled and kissed her. “Welcome home.”


End file.
